


A New Beginning

by sarxhlynne



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: (kinda on that last one i mean it's an afterlife au people die but they don't DIE die you know?), Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, Five Year Time Jump, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Attempted Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced miscarriage, M/M, Miscarriage, Multi, Teen Pregnancy, beth is 25, beth is bisexual, beth is not 16 because emily kinney was not 16 and that casting decision always creeped me out, canon divergence starts after episode 809 (so yeah that thing happens), enid is a lesbian, richonne is canon, shandrea is canon, this is basically my way of coping with what i saw last night on twd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 17:03:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13815576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarxhlynne/pseuds/sarxhlynne
Summary: Carl Grimes is dead.However, he finds that death isn't going to be as hard as he thought it was when he wakes up, surrounded by the people he loves and learns that maybe Heaven was real after all.Meanwhile, the family he left behind has to pick up the pieces without him.





	A New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, hello! Welcome to my very first work on ao3. I'm a little nervous about this, I've always been a reader and not an author, however I'm super excited at the same time because this is an idea that I've had in my mind for a few months, since I read the original spoiler about Carl Grimes on TSDF back in October. There's a few bits and pieces of back story that I just wanna delve into really quick before unleashing the story on all of you, so just hold off really quick on reading this so you get a few pieces of insight.
> 
> Because Carl Grimes, to paraphrase Chandler, was never really given a canonical age due to Chandler's continuous growth in between seasons, I went ahead and just said that Carl, Enid, and this OC female are all eighteen years old, and Judith is approximately two years old.
> 
> This is an afterlife AU that really delves into a bit of non-canonical lore. Basically what I mean to say is that everything that Carl and the gang experience in the afterlife is all decided on by me. There's a bit of almost "magical" elements to the afterlife which you'll understand when I introduce the afterlife.
> 
> As a warning: All characters in this story WILL die. However, you will see all of them again in some way, shape, or form because this is an afterlife AU. It'll be switching between the real world and the afterlife, until a certain point. (You'll know what that point is, and if not, I'll mention it in the notes most likely!) The only characters I will not be introducing are Pete Anderson and Ed Peletier. I don't think they need to be in the story, and I'd just rather not write them.
> 
> Other tid bits are about our OC, Anastasia Beckham. She's been with the group since Atlanta. Anastasia is eighteen at the start of fic, and she's always had a bit of a special bond with Carl that turned romantic. They were separated with the prison attack that killed Hershel, and she was taken in by the Saviors after she was attacked by another group. Negan was extremely protective of her and looked at her like a daughter. However, she always has and always will looked at Daryl Dixon like a father-figure, so she never truly cared for the treatment from Negan. She wasn't able to reunite with Rick and the group until Daryl and Carl appeared at the Sanctuary, and after that she started making secret trips to Alexandria with Dwight, and joined the Militia. Anything else, you'll learn or learn more in detail in the story!
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and please, feel free to leave any feedback you might have! Constructive criticism is what'll keep me going, and I would also love to see predictions for future chapters!

Carl kept rummaging about the kitchen, packing things into a back pack that we’d found on a run a few months prior. It was dirty and disgusting but that wasn’t what mattered, what mattered was having something that could hold things, so Carl grabbed it. He always looked to the value of something, where the rest of the Alexandrians would have looked at the appearance. Sometimes, even I was like that.

“Will you just… Will you just _stop_ for a minute? Please.”

My voice doesn’t even phase Carl, as I lean against the pillar that separates the kitchen from the dining room and the living room. Judith is sat on the floor next to me, the wheels of the toy cars we found her rolling against the hardwood floors. For once, her big brother is barely talking to his girlfriend, and it seems almost as if the little girl is zoning out the small fight that’s transpiring next to her.

“I’ve gotta get out there and find this guy. I really can’t stop to just talk.”

He’s annoyed. We’ve been fighting about this topic for the last hour – since I woke up and saw him pulling the bag out of the closet in his room. I’d asked where he was going, and as soon as he told me that he was going out to try and find the guy they’d seen at the gas station, I started begging him, pleading with him to just not go. I thought it would be easier to convince him than it was, and now we were stood in the kitchen, arguing about it as delicately as we could.

“Baby, you… You are amazing. You have the biggest heart that I’ve ever seen. And I _love_ that about you. I would never, in a million years, change that… B—But you need to think about what you’re doing right now. T—This guy… You don’t know him. Your dad said it and I’ll repeat it, I hope he makes it. But Carl, there is a war going on outside of these walls right now, and it is _not_ safe to go out th—” I’m cut off.

“You think I can’t defend myself against a damn walker?”

“It isn’t the walkers I’m scared of! Jesus Christ, Carl, I know you can handle a walker or two. B—But… I lived in the Sanctuary for a year. I was there. And I know that Negan really likes you. In any other situation, if we weren’t fighting them, he would never _ever_ dream of harming you. But I was there when he got you and your father on his knees. I saw the look in his eyes. The only thing that stopped him from killing you was that tiger.” I stop for a second, trying to see if I’m getting to him at all. And for a second, it looks like there’s a glimmer of conflict in his eye, so I decide to continue. “If Negan sees you outside of these walls, he will take you and use you as leverage against your dad. And don’t think for a second that he’ll be bluffing. He won’t be. If your dad doesn’t comply with whatever Negan says to do in that moment, and he won’t, Negan will kill you. Your dad can’t _handle_ losing you. _I_ can’t handle losing you, especially not now!”

Carl is quiet for a moment, before speaking up. “This guy could be what we need in the community, Stas. He could help us. From everything I’ve seen of him, from all the times I’ve gone out there to get a look at this guy, he could _help_. He’s got all types of medicine, and he seems to know what he’s doing with it, Anastasia. What if he’s a doctor? What if he can help you? I get that you can’t handle losing me right now, but do you think I can handle losing you? You were there when my mom died. You know what giving birth can do if we don’t have a doctor. You think I won’t go out there just because you _might_ be pregnant?”

It’s the last thing he says that sets something off in my head, and I’m done fighting. “Fuck off Carl.”

And with that, I head upstairs, back up to the bedroom that we share, ready to just take a nap.

I didn’t know that I would eat my own words later that night.

* * *

 

Author Notes:

So this has been a bit of a prologue of the story! I sincerely hope you all enjoyed it, and also understand that some things are left unanswered for a reason. More things will be revealed as we go on. Relationships between characters are going to be developed and I'm really excited about that, I hope you are all as well.

When I decided to write this story -- meaning when I actually sat down and decided to write it, not when I had the idea months and months ago, I also wondered if I should write a different plot. I had two other ideas -- one was going to be a Walking Dead re-write, with Carl Grimes and an OC that would fix some of my personal problems that I have with the show, and the other was going to be a non-zombie AU. If you'd like to see either story, I could one hundred and ten percent write either, I just don't want to write something that no one really cares for. Of course, I could write it for myself and myself only, but it'd be a bit lonely without feed back. So please, feel free to message me, even if it has nothing to do with that. I would love to read constructive criticism of the story and I'd also love to see any predictions that you all, as readers may have! I know this is a bit of a short prologue, but it's just to show the (kinda) calm before the storm that we all saw in episodes 808 and 809. I hope you're having a good morning, afternoon, or night wherever you are in the world, and you'll hear from me soon! x


End file.
